Butler

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Samuel Butler
(1835-1902)

Butler's father was a cleric, with whom he forever quarrelled. After having received an education at St. John's College, Cambridge, Butler gave it all up and went off to New Zealand to become a sheep farmer. By 1864 he had returned to England and lived out his days in London. He was greatly influenced by Darwin's work. He published translations of the Iliad (1898) and the Odyssey (1900.) In addition to writing Butler composed musical pieces. Butler's best known books were Erewhon and The Way Of All Flesh. For a sample of Butler's writing see one of his essays which we have put up, "Ramblings In Cheapside." Butler's works are readily available on the 'NET.

BOOKS on-line

Life after Death

Not on the Stygian shore, nor in clear sheen
Or far Elysian plain, shall we meet those
Among the dead whose pupils we have been,
Nor those great shades whom we have held as foes;
No meadow of asfodel our feet shal tread,
Nor shall we look each other in the face
To love or hate each other being dead,
Hoping some praise, or fearing some disgrace.
We shall not argue saying “’Twas thus” or “Thus”,
Our argument’s whole drift we shall forget;
Who’s right, who’s wrong, ‘twill be all one to us;
We shall not even know that we have met.
Yet meet we shall, and part, and meet again,
Where dead men meet, on lips of living men.

BOOKS on-line

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